| Price from | $2.50/mo | $14.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 4 |
| Spec score · Notes apps | 9.1 (#4) | 8.0 (#52) |
| Spec score · Note-taking apps | 8.9 (#26) | 7.8 (#143) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Bear documents Apple Shortcuts support on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with actions such as creating notes, adding tags, and searching notes. | The pages reviewed do not state any third-party product integrations. |
| Maker | Shiny Frog describes itself as an app-making team spanning Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, the UK, and Japan. | The site identifies Ruby Mamistvalove as founder and lead developer and says they created Notes 10 years ago. |
| Organization | Bear supports flexible tags, pinned tags, headings, and folding sections within notes. | Notes organizes ideas with nested folders and tags. |
| Supported platforms | web,macos,ios | The maker lists Windows, Linux, and macOS availability. |
| Purpose | Bear is a Markdown note-taking app for capturing, writing, and organizing notes. | Notes is a note-taking app for writing down thoughts. |
| Support | Bear provides support pages and accepts support requests through its contact page or [email protected]. | Questions, feature suggestions, and bug reports can be sent to [email protected]. |
